Tennessee Shakespeare Company Kicks Off Fourth Year of Nationally-Recognized ROMEO AND JULIET PROJECT

27 Schools

44 Performances

342 Classroom Visits

4,360 High School Freshmen

(January 15, 2015) -- Tennessee Shakespeare Company has begun its nationally-recognized, four-part performance and in-school residency The Romeo and Juliet Project in the Memphis area this week, starting with Germantown High School and all of its 530 Freshmen.

The Project, now in its fourth year, brings a cast of eight professional actor-teachers into each Language Arts classroom at a participating school. Students are guided by the actors to live the play's urgent tragedy of young love amidst rage, experiencing its relevant story while ensuring that participating Freshmen have a first exposure to Shakespeare that is active, rich, and rewarding.

As the teenagers in the play face armed violence, students discover positive actions available to them in their own lives in the face of real conflict. The Residency concludes with an intimate performance by the actor-teachers of Romeo and Juliet, which encourages student participation.

By the end of March, The Romeo and Juliet Project will have performed the play 44 times in 27 Memphis area schools, and will have taught the Residency in 342 classroom visits in 11 schools. At least 4,360 high school Freshmen will be reached and positively affected by The Romeo and Juliet Project. That figure represents 34% of all Freshmen in the Shelby County Schools system.

Student post-Project assessments have recorded a 20% increase in students' compassion as a result of their inclusion in The Romeo and Juliet Project, as well as a full letter grade increase, on average, in Language Arts classes.

Ms. Luker's intimate hour-long show to benefit TSC's education program will feature her Broadway and Jerome Kern songbooks as well as stories from her fabled 30-year career.

Rebecca Luker’s soaring voice has thrilled Broadway audiences for years. She has been nominated for Tony Awards for originating the role of Winifred in Mary Poppins and for revivals of The Music Man and Showboat. Ms. Luker originated the role of Lily in The Secret Garden, starred opposite Antonio Banderas in Nine, and has sparkled in numerous hit Broadway productions with her portrayals of the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, Maria in The Sound of Music, and Christine in The Phantom of the Opera.

Just this past month, Ms. Luker received glowing reviews for her work in the rumored-to-be-Broadway-bound musical, The Little Dancer.

"If you've been wondering who, if anyone, might be the heir to the great Barbara Cook, Ms. Luker . . . is the one." - The New York Times

The Holidays are just FABULOUS

Inspired by both titles of William Shakespeare's popular, musical comedy, Tennessee Shakespeare Company (TSC), the Mid-South's professional classical theatre, continues its seventh season of plays with a turn-of-the-century musical hall production of Twelfth Night, or What You Will.

Coming off the company's record-breaking production of Richard III over Halloween,Twelfth Night will run December 11-21 in the Dixon's Winegardner Auditorium to celebrate all the seasonal holidays during our Winter Solstice.

The production is sponsored by Pat and Ernest Kelly.

Directed by TSC founder and producing artistic director Dan McCleary (Richard in Richard III), Twelfth Night features more than the usual cross-dressing, music, and songs in Shakespeare's play. The close-quartered Dixon space invites a celebratory party atmosphere reminiscent of the Moulin Rouge.

Tennessee Shakespeare Company Announces Seventh Season of Plays

Revel Year-Round

(July 28, 2014) – – Tennessee Shakespeare Company (TSC), the Mid-South's professional classical theatre, today announced its 2014-15 schedule of plays, which includes three by Shakespeare, the Southern Exposure Series, a continuing partnership with Dixon Gallery & Gardens, a new summer partnership with the University of Memphis, and a new Musical Works Festival sponsored by the Broadway licensing company of Memphis, Monty Python's Spamalot, The Color Purple, and All Shook Up: The Music of Elvis Presley.

The season features performance programming year-round for the first time in TSC's history.

Producing Artistic Director Dan McCleary plays the title role in Shakespeare's Richard III over Halloween in Germantown Performance Arts Center, followed by a festive musical hall production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in Dixon Gallery & Gardens in December. The Sixth Annual Valentine's Gala, with a Broadway headliner to be announced, plays February 14, 2015, in GPAC. The Tuesday Literary Salons return in the spring with Kate Chopin and William Faulkner. TSC then partners with the University of Memphis to present Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream on the University's mainstage during the solstice weeks of June. The U of M mainstage will also host the exciting Memphis>Broadway: A New Musical Works Festival in May, June, and August, sponsored by New York's Theatrical Rights Worldwide.

"For the first time in our organizational life, we are now able to present a wide-ranging performance season as we have been doing with our innovative, four-season education programs," says founder, Mr. McCleary. "This expansion is in line with our initial strategic plan, and it allows us to present important, all-new productions and projects in three distinct geographies for our patrons.